I am a 51-year-old woman planning a facelift

I am a 51-year-old woman planning a facelift and am wondering if there are any benefits to the procedure other than the cosmetic aspect. Can it actually improve the quality of my skin?

Answer:

The facelift procedure helps to correct the skin laxity by tightening and repositioning the muscles under the skin. In the neck, the platysma muscle from each side of the neck is plicated, or sutured together. This creates a tight sling to hold the neck. On each side of the face, the facial muscles and their fascia are repositioned in an elevated position. The skin is then re-drapped over the tightened muscles. Any excess skin is then removed and all the incisions are closed. Unfortunately, after all of this is done, we are dealing with the same skin. That is why when my patient has poor skin quality, I will often times do a medium depth peel to the skin after the facelift is done in the operating room. The peel is a resurfacing technique that removes the top layer of skin. Over the next 5-7 days, the new skin grows. This new skin will have better texture, quality, and will not have the fine wrinkles that it had previously. The medium depth peel is a powerful technique to rejuvenate the quality of the skin.